Vaping, Smoking, and Tobacco Use: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

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Cancer of the mouth, or oral cancer, can happen in the lips, the tongue, the floor of the mouth, the roof of the mouth, the cheeks, or gums. Tobacco use can increase your risk of having these forms of cancer and, with roughly 50,000 new cases of oral cancer diagnosed in the U.S. each year, knowing the facts can help you make informed decisions about your health.

Symptoms of Oral Cancer

Be aware of the following signs that can indicate the development of cancer in the mouth:

  • Sores that don’t heal within a few days
  • Red or white patches
  • Numbness, pain, or swelling
  • A persistent sore throat or hoarse voice that doesn’t go away
  • Feeling like something is stuck in your throat

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Tobacco Use & Your Health

Vaping

Vaping is the act of inhaling and exhaling the water vapor produced by an electric device called a vaporizer. The most popular devices used for vaping are hookahs and e-cigarettes. Some users hack e-cigarette devices to allow dripping, which is dropping e-cigarette liquid directly on hot coils of the device to produce thicker, more flavorful smoke.

1. Hookah 

  • Tobacco juices from hookahs irritate the mouth and increase the risk of developing oral cancers.
  • An hour-long hookah smoking session involves 200 puffs while smoking an average cigarette involves 20 puffs.

2. E-Cigarettes

  • E-cigarettes are popular among teens and are now the most commonly used form of tobacco among youth in the United States.
  • Two times as many boys use e-cigs as girls.
  • Teen e-cig users are more likely to smoking. 7 percent of e-cig users started smoking within 6 months while 8.1 percent of non-users started smoking.

3. Dripping

  • One in four teens reported using e-cigarettes for dripping.
  • As the liquid in e-cigs is heated to higher temperatures, dripping may expose users to higher levels of nicotine and to harmful non-nicotine toxins, such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.

Cigarette Smoking

  • 90% of smokers began before the age 19.
  • About 1.69 billion pounds of butts end up as toxic trash each year, making cigarettes the most littered item on Earth.

Smokeless Tobacco/chew/dip

  • More than 30 chemicals in smokeless tobacco are linked to cancer. When you chew smokeless tobacco, the addictive chemical nicotine is absorbed through the tissue in your mouth, and other chemicals such as lead, formaldehyde, and carcinogens, like cadmium and arsenic, are also released.

Call us at (248) 852-3130 today to schedule your six-month check-up and a free cancer screening.

Note: Information provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified dental and medical health providers with questions you may have regarding your specific dental or medical conditions.

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